August 30, 2010

The Cowboys are began the process of trimming their roster from 80 to 75 players by cutting three players on Monday, including veteran safety Pat Watkins and two rookie free agents _ tight end Scott Sicko and receiver Terrell Hudgins.

The move with Watkins was not a surprise considering he had missed much of camp with a knee injury and the emergence of rookie safeties Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, Barry Church and Danny McCray. The four-year veteran was also due a salary of $1.176 million in 2010.

A fifth-round draft pick in 2006, Watkins appeared in 13 games and started one in 2009. He contributed primarily on special teams. He is now a restricted free agent.

Sicko got a lot of attention when he came to the Cowboys after the draft because he initially decided to give up football before being recruited to give it another try by the team's scouting department.

However, he never made much of an impression once he got on the field. It's possible that he could be added back to the practice squad. Hudgins is a likely practice squad candidate as well.

Tight end John Phillips will be moved to the injured reserve list. He suffered a season ending knee injury in the preseason opener against the Bengals.

Linebacker Stephen Hodge is still recovering from microfracture surgery and will be put on the Physically Unable to Perform list.